Pidgin mascot

Thank you Ethan.
When the Pidgin project was ready to change names, how did it pick "Pidgin"? Was it something on IRC that caught a developers eye, or was Denis responsible for this creative name as well?
I was and stull am very fond of the Gaim-to-Pidgin rebranding and would like some help and ideas on a very similar rebranding approach.
I also noticed when the new branding occured, the new domain name and site theme were carefully orchestrated at the same time. Was the site work community driven? Was the rest of the tango art simply pulled from other resources? We would like a very basic and tasteful facelift as well and we could use some experienced advice.
Thank you very much for your time.
-Tres